Namco System 11 and Namco System 12 Arcade Information

Namco System 11 is a standard jamma board which is Namco's arcade version of the Sony Playstation. The board includes a standard jamma edge connector as well as a 48 pin edge connector which is used for additional buttons in some games such as kicks (hence the common "kick harness") or even block in Soul Edge. The additional connector is also responsible for the second channel for stereo sound (since the jamma harness is mono). This board is capable of only Standard resolution 15kHz video through the jamma edge. Notable games on this board are Tekken, Tekken 2, and Soul Edge (prequel to Soul Calibur)

The board is made up of three different board interconnected together. The base board, also known as the main board, contains the main program and sound roms that make up the game. The larger of the two sub boards, also known as the cpu board, As the name would make you think, houses the cpu and all of the system ram. It sits on top of the main board. The final and smallest board, also known as the rom board, contains all of the game's graphics roms. Since all of the roms are surface mounted it makes changing a board from one game to another nearly impossible. This however was not a problem due to the much lower cost per board compared to other hardware of the time such as Sega's Model 2.

The Namco System 12 (in the same vein as Namco System 256) is an upgraded version of the System 11. It features more memory and faster processors. Unfortunately the exact changes are not known at this time. This board made it possible to have much better graphics and more fluid animations in games such as Tekken 3, Tekken Tag Tournament and Soul Calibur. This new board also added full jvs compatibility. It however is still compatible with jamma and the 48 pin "kick harness" but it also gave the operator the option to connect vga video at 24kHz (dual vga for dual displaying like a normal jvs spec), as well as the 6 pin jvs power supply plug and the usb looking connector for a jvs i/o. When a Jvs i/o board is connected the 48 pin harness is not required anymore for your extra buttons as they connect directly through the i/o. The other thing that is added are two pairs of composite (red and white) audio plugs which are not amplified so you will either need a set of amplified speakers or a sound amp board.

As far as connecting these boards at home goes, all you will need is a standard Min Dong, Suzo Happ or other screw terminal power supply and matching jamma harness. Of course a 48 pin connector will be needed for the extra buttons used in most of the games (Kicks in Tekken and block in Soul Edge). When using a System 12 board as mentioned above it can be plugged directly into a JVS setup, but without need for the 8 pin power connector that many jvs power supplies have. Another interesting thing is that Namco System 12 board are fully compatible with Namco's Cyberlead cabinet and will display special messages on the led display while the game is playing. A special note, if you are connecting either Tekken Tag or Tekken 3 with a Sega JVS to Jamma I/O, Button 3 is used for Tag in Tekken Tag, however when connecting Tekken 3, Skip button 3 and connect the Button 4 and 5 for the Kicks.

Namco System 11 Board (Tekken 2)


Namco System 12 Board (Tekken Tag)



Tekken Tag Tournament running in a Cyber Lead Cabinet